Tommy Bowden

Tommy Bowden

Tommy Bowden as head football coach at Clemson
Biographical details
Born	(1954-07-10) July 10, 1954 Birmingham, Alabama
Playing career
1973–1976	West Virginia
Position(s)	Wide receiver
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977	West Virginia (GA)
1978–1979	Florida State (DB)
1980	Auburn (RB)
1981–1982	Florida State (TE)
1983–1984	Duke (QB)
1985–1986	Duke (OC)
1987–1989	Alabama (WR)
1990	Kentucky (OC)
1991–1996	Auburn (OC)
1997–1998	Tulane
1999–2008	Clemson
Head coaching record
Overall	90–49
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1× C-USA Champion (1998)
Awards
1× C-USA Coach of the Year (1998) 2× ACC Coach of the Year (1999, 2003) 1× FCA Football Coach of the Year (2006)

Tommy Pearce Bowden (born July 10, 1954) is an American football coach who served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida State University, against whom he has coached in games nicknamed the "Bowden Bowl." He is also a brother of Terry Bowden, previously head football coach of the University of Akron.

Coaching career

Before coming to Clemson, Bowden was the head coach at Tulane University, and an assistant at the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Duke University, the University of Kentucky, East Carolina University and, with his father, at Florida State. His 1998 Tulane squad went 12–0 and achieved a top-10 final ranking in both polls. Despite being one of only two undefeated teams in the regular season, Tulane was not even considered for a bid in a Bowl Championship Series game because it was believed they had not played a difficult schedule.

Bowden in 2006 as Clemson's head coach.

Bowden was hired as Clemson's head coach before the 1999 season. Bowden's Clemson teams went to a bowl game every year he coached there, except in 2004, when, after a brawl with rival South Carolina, both teams withdrew from bowl consideration for that season. He resigned on October 13, 2008, after leading the team to a disappointing 3–3 record (1–2 ACC) at the midpoint of a season in which the Tigers had been an almost unanimous preseason pick to win their first ACC title under Bowden and were ranked #9 in the preseason polls. Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Dabo Swinney was named as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Personal

Bowden, an evangelical Christian, addresses airmen at Pope Field in celebration of the National Prayer Luncheon in 2008.

Bowden attended and played football for West Virginia University from 1972 through 1976. He is married to the former Linda White and has two children, Ryan and Lauren. He is a son of former Florida State Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden and has two sisters and three brothers, including Terry, former head coach at the University of Auburn, and Jeff, who served as an assistant coach on his brother Terry's staff. Bowden is an evangelical Christian. He has openly used his religion as a recruiting tool, saying that his faith “was a tremendous recruiting advantage.”

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Tulane Green Wave (Conference USA) (1997–1998)
1997	Tulane	7–4	5–1	2nd
1998	Tulane	11–0	6–0	1st	Liberty	7	7
Tulane:		18–4	11–1
Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1999–2008)
1999	Clemson	6–6	5–3	2nd	L Peach
2000	Clemson	9–3	6–2	2nd	L Gator	14	16
2001	Clemson	7–5	4–4	T–4th	W Humanitarian
2002	Clemson	7–6	4–4	T–5th	L Tangerine
2003	Clemson	9–4	5–3	3rd	W Peach	22	22
2004	Clemson	6–5	4–4	T–6th	Declined*
2005	Clemson	8–4	4–4	3rd (Atlantic)	W Champs Sports	21	21
2006	Clemson	8–5	5–3	T–2nd (Atlantic)	L Music City
2007	Clemson	9–4	5–3	2nd (Atlantic)	L Chick-fil-A	22	21
2008	Clemson	3–3‡	1–2	T–2nd (Atlantic)
Clemson:		72–45	43–32
Total:		90–49
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

*Self-imposed punishment for team fight with South Carolina
^‡ Bowden resigned on October 13, 2008.